面向二十一世纪的亚太伙伴关系——PECC致APEC贸易部长会议的双主席声明（英文版）

On behalf of the members of the Pacific Economic Cooperation
Council (PECC) we would like to express our appreciation for the opportunity to
address you today.

On the occasion of 24th PECC General
Meeting held on May 15th 2017, the members of PECC and invited
guests gathered in Hanoi to discuss “The Vision for An Asia-Pacific
Partnership for the 21st Century.” We express our appreciation
to Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Vietnam, H.E. Mr. Pham Binh
Minh who delivered the keynote address and reiterated the importance of
building a “seamless Asia-Pacific community.” We draw your attention to those
remarks which outlined the broader context in which APEC’s work takes place.

As APEC takes forward its discussions on progress
towards the Bogor Goals and beyond, we consider it opportune and urgent to
express concerns about recent developments in the world economy and the
Asia-Pacific as its growth center. Moreover, future growth should
be sustainable, innovative and inclusive, deepening connectivity and economic
integration. Major drivers should include structural reform, new technologies,
especially digital advances, e-commerce, digital trade, quality human capital,
competitive and innovative MSMEs, economic, financial and social inclusion.

The Prospects for the Asia-Pacific

We note the signs of recovery of our economies but
remained concerned about the slower growth projected for the emerging economies
of East and Southeast Asia. The ongoing recovery should not divert attention
from the structural forces associated with growth deceleration in the recent
past and the need to respond to them cooperatively. Nor should the recovery
lead to complacency about the urgent need for inclusive and sustainable
initiatives at all levels of government.

Policy Initiatives to Address Rising Inequality

Inequalities, factual and perceived, have divided
citizens, communities, regions and the world at large lately. Immediate policy
actions are needed and some have in fact been put in place. Many of the known
social policy measures such as access to basic health, sanitation, basic
education, social assistance and social insurance are being scaled up and
implemented at a rapid speed. However, innovative measures of a more structural
nature that are linked with economic policy measures are needed. A key
challenge will be modernizing and transitioning the traditional sectors and
jobs with the divisive, complex and disruptive impact of the upcoming explosion
of technology.

We urge governments to renew their commitment to free
and open trade and investment. Working to promote efficient, open markets is a
continuous endeavor but ironically, in many cases, it is the unfinished
business of free trade and reform that impedes the ability of businesses –
especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to compete on a level
playing field. Many of these barriers are non-tariff measures that require a
shift in how we undertake discussions at the regional level. We need to rebuild
the confidence of our people that trade liberalization ultimately enables them
to prosper and demonstrate in real terms how our work positively impacts their
ability to compete.

Liberalization has lowered tariffs to historical lows.
However, shifting consumer preferences for higher standards and quality
products and variance among them, including those related to sustainability,
have prevented many businesses from taking part in international trade and the
global value chain. These barriers disproportionately impact the biggest
employers and creators of jobs – our MSMEs. Economic and technical cooperation
(Ecotech) to develop capacity of those firms should be intensified and be made
more effective.

Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The enormity of the challenges facing the world today
and the Asia-Pacific therein is reflected very well in the SDG 2030. PECC
considers an open world economy a necessary, if not sufficient, condition for
the attainment of the SDG goals. Recognizing the realities of the world today,
the attainment of zero poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being and
quality education, to mention only a few of the Goals, is inconceivable without
the flows of material and intellectual resources across the different parts of
the world

Rediscover Openness

Immeasurable human and financial resources have been
spent on establishing and continuously improving the current architecture of an
open world economy. The endeavors have also delivered growth and development
dividends. Humanity has a higher standard of living, with the near doubling of
per capita GNI from $5,681 in constant 2010 US$ in 1970 to $9,931 in
2015. Furthermore, 1.1 billion people were lifted out of absolute poverty
in the period of 1990-2013 and rate of absolute poverty fell to 10.8 percent in
2013.

These numbers clearly testify to the successful
functioning of the architecture of an open world economy, and its benefits. The
mechanism in which openness raises prosperity is well understood. Therefore, we
at PECC are deeply concerned about threats to openness. If we fail to
appreciate the positive values of openness, we risk regressing into an
unpredictable system that will only reduce the willingness of the business
community to invest in new factories, new products and new jobs. Even threats
to openness create an unpredictable business environment.

Raising barriers will increase costs and reduce choice
for consumers. Instead we need to understand the root causes of inequality and
stagnating incomes, have adequate policies to address these and ensure broad
based growth and development continue in an enabling world economic order.
Given the relatively benign economic conditions of the Asia-Pacific, the region
should lead in a collaborative way on initiatives on openness. It can
capitalize on lessons from the long experiences of concerted initiatives on
liberalization, facilitation and technical cooperation.

As technology progresses and policy initiatives open
borders more widely and deeply, issues of fair trade gains in importance. This
is a century-long issue that has led to lengthy debates throughout the last
three decades. Some global firms have voluntarily launched fair-trade
initiatives. Leaning on lessons learned from these initiatives a more
general system of fair trade is possible to design. A more competitive market
structure is the more reliable path to distribute the benefits from trade,
complemented with other policies to address the sources of inequality.

Of all the measures to promote equality of
opportunity, improvements in human capital are perhaps the most durable in
terms of impact and the least controversial politically. This is especially
crucial given the rapid and wide-ranging advancement of new technologies – in
short, the 4th industrial revolution - and its impact on the
way goods and services are produced, trade and new ways of work and business
model. PECC has long recognized the importance of an increase in the
stock of human capital as the dominant source of economic growth. Narrowing the
prosperity gap between citizens, communities within and among our requires the
narrowing of the human capital gap.

Development of human capital addresses issues of
health, literacy, skills and entrepreneurship, which is critical in the use of knowledge.
PECC and APEC have engaged in numerous initiatives to enhance human capital.
Yet, the human capital gap remains very deep as diverse measurements such as
the OECD’s PISA and the UNDP’s Human Development Index suggest. Compared to
trade in goods, trade in services and investments in education of all levels are
far less internationalized. Despite the explosive growth of higher education,
the number of internationally mobile students, teachers and lecturers remain
negligibly small.

Despite reverses, leaders in the Asia-Pacific should
keep up the momentum for free trade agreements, and provide confidence for
continuation of regional initiatives as well as complementarity among those
regional arrangements that involve APEC members such as completion of the
negotiations on RCEP, implementation of connectivities including the Belt and
Road Initiative, deepening of ASEAN integration, various forms of TPP, and implementation
of the Pacific Alliance toward an eventual Free Trade Area for the Asia-Pacific
(FTAAP). We need a thorough and deep examination of work done so far in
these agreements to improve the functioning of international markets and enable
business and workers to benefit from trade.

APEC Beyond 2020

As APEC begins the process of reflection on a
post-2020 vision, we urge APEC to consider the suggestions contained here.
While maintaining our commitment to an open world economy, and recognizing the
enormous gains that have been made, we need to acknowledge that there are those
who feel that they have not benefitted and deal with the anxiety and
uncertainty over their future well-being. APEC can play a role in ensuring that
trade liberalization leads to a level playing field and that people have the
wherewithal to effectively compete in an increasingly competitive global
market. This includes social policies to cope with the transition and stress
when inevitable changes happen and old industries are replaced with new ones
requiring different skills and mindsets. APEC, in its role as an incubator of
ideas, should also continue to show its leadership in tackling emerging regional
and global challenges.

As the first step to ensure that future APEC work take
into account these shifts, we suggest that APEC have a frank exchange of views
at this year’s retreat on the challenges all economies are confronting and
leverage APEC’s long-established informal and non-binding atmosphere to find
ways the region can work together to address them. While renewing our
commitment to free and open trade and resisting protectionism, with just three
years to go till the 2020 milestone, it would be timely to establish an APEC
Vision Group to take forward the ideas from the Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue.
Such a process should have sufficient distance from the official track and help
to galvanize stakeholder support for APEC’s work. There has been a very long
tradition of cooperation between the PECC and APEC since the creation of APEC.
The commitment of the PECC to an integrated, connected and cooperative region
of the Asia-Pacific is reflected in its alignment with APEC’s agenda as well as
providing forward looking ideas. The PECC restates the commitment to
Asia-Pacific integration and cooperation based on the principles of open
regionalism, and its willingness to bring together stakeholders to provide
ideas on the challenges that you are addressing.